Wester Conference Predictions:
Detroit vs. Edmonton
While Detroit are certainly the favorites, I am not sure if Edmonton is the best matchup for the Wings. The Oil really played the Wings well in most games this year. A couple of OT games and a shootout. Not the ideal first round opponent for Detroit, but so be it. Also both teams have played much better on the road then at home this year, so having the home ice advantage may, uh, not be so advantageous.
I think a big question will also be how Manny Legace holds up. The playoffs do weird things to goalies. He's been stellar this year, but he has only played in 4 playoff games his entire career and hasn't performed well.
There is also a big question about the effectiveness of Datsyuk and Zetterberg in the off-season. Datsyuk has played horrible in the playoffs and Zetterberg hasn't fared too much better. If the Wings plan on going far, these two will have produce in the playoffs, despite the resurgance of Steve Yzerman.
Here are the most likely forward line combos:
Draper - Datsyuk - Shanahan
Yzerman - Lang - Williams
Samuelsson - Zetterberg - Holmstrom
Franzen - Cleary - Maltby
That's pretty good scoring balance on the top 3 lines. Shanahan has 40 goals and Zetterberg has 38. The team has eight 20 goal scorers (Datsyuk, Shanahn, Lang, Williams, Zetterberg, Samuelsson, Holmstrom, and Schneider) so it's not like shutting one line down will do the job.
Should be a good series. The Wings have never beaten Edmonton in a playoff series. They only played twice back in 87/88 during Edmonton's dynasty. The only player left on either team is Yzerman. That said, I don't think a Chris Pronger led team has ever beaten the Wings in the playoffs.
Final Prediction: Wings in 6.
Other series:
Dallas in 5 over Colorado.
Calgary in 6 over Anaheim.
San Jose in 5 over Nashville.